'Was that really a good decision?'
Michael fell into a deep train of thought. He was rethinking whether his decision to allow the Valyr into his territory was a good thing, or if it had been a mistake.
'I couldn't leave them to die, and I need their strength, either way.'
It was painfully obvious that most of the Valyr would be dead without his aid. They'd already lost the battle against the Council of Xylon and were forced to retreat.
By now, the Valyr could leave the Origin Expanse to return home where they could be treated with much better medical equipment, but the Valyr Lordess, or former Lordess, wasn't happy about that. She didn't want to return, knowing that her clan and the higher-ups of the government wouldn't value her as much as they used to.
The prestige she earned in the last few years would crumble and turn into nothingness the moment she returned home after failing her mission to secure the Savannah Region.
It was highly likely that the higher-ups would pull the remaining survivors of their reinforcement out of the Origin Expanse and deploy them somewhere else. That would further dwindle the former Lordess' chances to reclaim the Savannah.
Not that her current chances were high, in the first place.
'As long as it's only temporary, it should be fine.' Michael thought. The surviving Valyr were all powerhouses of the Savannah Region. They were either Awakened at the Peak of Tier-3 or were strong enough to be able to fight a Late Tier-3 Awakened.
Having more than 100 Valyr with that much strength by his side was going to make things a lot easier for Michael. However, that was not enough for him.
'I should scan their thoughts as well.'
After witnessing so many betrayals, Michael thought that he shouldn't make the same mistake…not again. He was going to demand using Mind Reader on the Valyr, each of them, to ensure that none of them thought about betraying the Valyr Lordess, by suddenly leaving her behind, or that they considered exposing his territory and some other secrets of his territory.
The Council of Xylon would find his territory sooner or later, but that didn't mean they would have an easy time pinpointing the exact location and the camouflaged defense structures.
Unfortunately, Michael wasn't able to start reading the Valyr's mind because he was interrupted by a bunch of young Forest Elves.
'Scouts? At least, they're not the scouts from the Savannah Region.'
Michael would have been a bit worried if the scouts from the Savannah Region rushed up to him like the Forest Elves, however, the scouts watched the border to the Zentika Empire.
"My Lord!" One of the Forest Elves exclaimed while another one rushed past to reach Michael first.
"We have news about the Zentika Empire, My Lord!"
"Oi. I won the bet," The first Forest Elf said, pushing his colleague aside, "I won the right to tell him!!"
The two Forest Elves ended up in a friendly fight. That reassured Michael a little.
If the scouts could banter like this, the news about the Zentika Empire shouldn't be too bad.
A third Forest Elf, a much slower sprinter, arrived next to his colleagues. He saw them banter and Michael watching them in silence and chose to report the news while his colleagues continued fighting.
"The Lords in the Zentika Empire are retaliating. They managed to break their contracts with the Zentika Empire somehow. The Native Empire is now in an internal war!" He said, attracting Michael's interest.
'Damn.' Michael nearly blurted aloud.
'Were their contracts with the Lords that bad? No, that shouldn't be the case. I doubt that the Zentika Empire is foolish enough to leave many loopholes in their contracts with Lords and Awakened.'
Michael tilted his head.
'Did someone manage to break their contract because of a Soultrait? Or some sort of expensive Artifact?'
He couldn't be sure what happened, but it was quite obvious that the Zentika Empire's struggles intensified overnight.
The Forest Elf continued to relay a few more pieces of useful information before Michael allowed them to leave again. He gave them a few days off to rest and sort his thoughts.
'The Lords in the Zentika Empire should be stronger than the Council of Xylon. Maybe, they can tear down the Zentika Empire.'
The corner of Michael's lip twitched and curled into a faint smile.
'Even if they cannot destroy the Zentika Empire, they'll wear them down. The kingdoms bordering the Zentika Empire should make their move pretty soon as well. That will be a mess.'
While it was not impossible that the next ruler of the large plains would be an amiable Lord, Michael considered the probability incredibly low.
He learned enough about the Origin Expanse to know that most Lords and rulers would rather kill their enemies before they could gain enough fortitude to retaliate against them instead of befriending them.
Michael was an unknown variable in the eyes of most people. He could turn into an incredibly useful ally, or their nemesis. Those who knew Michael knew that he would rather become allies with his neighbors, but strangers would consider him dangerous. They would give their utmost to hunt him down before he grew too strong.
That was also why Michael was certain that the Council of Xylon would attack him sooner or later, either way. It didn't matter too much whether the Valyr were hiding in Arx, or if they escaped to a different place. The Council of Xylon would gather their forces and strike him as long as they still had a chance to defeat him.
At least, that was what Michael figured. It was the most logical approach. It was also why Michael hoped that the struggles in the great plains would continue for a while.
"Continue to struggle, while I grow stronger," Michael mumbled, praying that the Zentika Empire would survive long enough for him to take revenge.
After all, he had yet to obliterate Senator Keltos and his underlings.
Since the Zentika Empire wasn't going to cause problems for the time being, Michael turned back to the Valyr Lordess. He asked her about the Council of Xylon's situation, but the Valyr Lordess didn't have as many useful pieces of information as expected.
"I'm unsure whether my knowledge is outdated, or if it is correct, in the first place. The news could have been fabricated, but that's what I heard," She warned Michael, "The Council of Xylon's internal affairs developed into small-scale skirmishes. Some mentioned to keep their forces combined against the Untamed Jungle, whereas other Lords pointed out that the Untamed Jungle is of no danger."
"The opinions are split with the Lords who don't care about the Untamed Jungle mentioning that the other Lords want to stall time to betray them. That hasn't been openly mentioned but the scouts and assassins eavesdropped on our enemies."
"The Lords want to claim their benefits right now. They desire to expand their lands and procure all resources. The distribution of resources, however, turns out a lot more difficult than they'd expected. Everyone's desire to claim the best spot with the biggest resource deposits stirs a lot more trouble than they'd fathomed. That's also how we survived this long."
The Valyr Lordess turned quiet for a moment. Her mood worsened and she sighed deeply, regret filling her heart.
"If not for the Zynur Lord's betrayal, we would have survived a little longer. But…at the end of the day, we would have been crushed."
Michael listened intently to the Valyr Lordess. He heard the gossip of the other Valyr as well and their snarky remarks about the Zynur Lord and the Council of Xylon. Everyone was angry at the Zynur Lord and themselves. They were frustrated that they trusted the Zynur Lord mindlessly.
Some were also angry at the Valyr Lordess for being gullible and an easy target. They commented about the Valyr Lordess family and that she was a disgrace for someone with such a great bloodline.
At some point, they began to gossip about Zira as well, saying that she was nothing like her mother and that it was a shame for her to have a 1-Star Soultrait. They were certain that their family would have invested far more to reinforce the Trilance if Zira had been born with a stronger Soultrait, and if the Savannah Region had been inherited to her later.
Michael ignored most comments, but the gossip was also quite useful in certain regards.
He learned that the Valyr had been unable to claim a Beginner Region – as they're called by certain people for being user-
friendly for Rookie Lords and Rogues – in the last few decades. It would have been a great achievement and a glorious feat for the Valyr to claim the Savannah Region.
'I can work with that.' Michael figured.
He didn't rush to jump into action to assault the Council of Xylon before they could initiate a large-scale attack. Instead, Michael shared his demands with the Valyr Lordess, Zira, and the other Valyr.
"If you want to move freely through my territory, you will let me use my Soultrait on you. The Soultrait allows me to find out your true intentions and thoughts. I won't force anyone, but the Awakened who reject my demand will have to depart my domain and the Untamed Jungle. It's only obvious, but I'm not doing all of this for charity. I ensured that you would survive to help me combat the Council of Xylon."
Michael turned more serious and his faint smile seemed to transform into a devilish grin.
"But don't get me wrong. I can get rid of the Council of Xylon without you guys as well. All you guys are here for is to ensure that my people will survive. If you want to take revenge on the Council of Xylon, or my trust, you'll accept the use of my Soultrait. If not, you will be under constant scrutiny and I will mark you as a potential threat. One wrong move and I will have you executed!"
Michael knew that he was a little bit overbearing right now, but he didn't care. The Valyr should understand that they were in his domain and that they had to live according to his rules. If they didn't like it, they could leave. He wasn't going to stop them.
Their existence and combat prowess should make things easier against the Council of Xylon, however, the Valyr would certainly not change the inevitable outcome of the Regional War.
Michael was going to win, one way or another.
The only important question was who would be left to celebrate the victory alongside him.
'Was that really a good decision?'
Michael fell into a deep train of thought. He was rethinking whether his decision to allow the Valyr into his territory was a good thing, or if it had been a mistake.
'I couldn't leave them to die, and I need their strength, either way.'
It was painfully obvious that most of the Valyr would be dead without his aid. They'd already lost the battle against the Council of Xylon and were forced to retreat.
By now, the Valyr could leave the Origin Expanse to return home where they could be treated with much better medical equipment, but the Valyr Lordess, or former Lordess, wasn't happy about that. She didn't want to return, knowing that her clan and the higher-ups of the government wouldn't value her as much as they used to.
The prestige she earned in the last few years would crumble and turn into nothingness the moment she returned home after failing her mission to secure the Savannah Region.
It was highly likely that the higher-ups would pull the remaining survivors of their reinforcement out of the Origin Expanse and deploy them somewhere else. That would further dwindle the former Lordess' chances to reclaim the Savannah.
Not that her current chances were high, in the first place.
'As long as it's only temporary, it should be fine.' Michael thought. The surviving Valyr were all powerhouses of the Savannah Region. They were either Awakened at the Peak of Tier-3 or were strong enough to be able to fight a Late Tier-3 Awakened.
Having more than 100 Valyr with that much strength by his side was going to make things a lot easier for Michael. However, that was not enough for him.
'I should scan their thoughts as well.'
After witnessing so many betrayals, Michael thought that he shouldn't make the same mistake…not again. He was going to demand using Mind Reader on the Valyr, each of them, to ensure that none of them thought about betraying the Valyr Lordess, by suddenly leaving her behind, or that they considered exposing his territory and some other secrets of his territory.
The Council of Xylon would find his territory sooner or later, but that didn't mean they would have an easy time pinpointing the exact location and the camouflaged defense structures.
Unfortunately, Michael wasn't able to start reading the Valyr's mind because he was interrupted by a bunch of young Forest Elves.
'Scouts? At least, they're not the scouts from the Savannah Region.'
Michael would have been a bit worried if the scouts from the Savannah Region rushed up to him like the Forest Elves, however, the scouts watched the border to the Zentika Empire.
"My Lord!" One of the Forest Elves exclaimed while another one rushed past to reach Michael first.
"We have news about the Zentika Empire, My Lord!"
"Oi. I won the bet," The first Forest Elf said, pushing his colleague aside, "I won the right to tell him!!"
The two Forest Elves ended up in a friendly fight. That reassured Michael a little.
If the scouts could banter like this, the news about the Zentika Empire shouldn't be too bad.
A third Forest Elf, a much slower sprinter, arrived next to his colleagues. He saw them banter and Michael watching them in silence and chose to report the news while his colleagues continued fighting.
"The Lords in the Zentika Empire are retaliating. They managed to break their contracts with the Zentika Empire somehow. The Native Empire is now in an internal war!" He said, attracting Michael's interest.
'Damn.' Michael nearly blurted aloud.
'Were their contracts with the Lords that bad? No, that shouldn't be the case. I doubt that the Zentika Empire is foolish enough to leave many loopholes in their contracts with Lords and Awakened.'
Michael tilted his head.
'Did someone manage to break their contract because of a Soultrait? Or some sort of expensive Artifact?'
He couldn't be sure what happened, but it was quite obvious that the Zentika Empire's struggles intensified overnight.
The Forest Elf continued to relay a few more pieces of useful information before Michael allowed them to leave again. He gave them a few days off to rest and sort his thoughts.
'The Lords in the Zentika Empire should be stronger than the Council of Xylon. Maybe, they can tear down the Zentika Empire.'
The corner of Michael's lip twitched and curled into a faint smile.
'Even if they cannot destroy the Zentika Empire, they'll wear them down. The kingdoms bordering the Zentika Empire should make their move pretty soon as well. That will be a mess.'
While it was not impossible that the next ruler of the large plains would be an amiable Lord, Michael considered the probability incredibly low.
He learned enough about the Origin Expanse to know that most Lords and rulers would rather kill their enemies before they could gain enough fortitude to retaliate against them instead of befriending them.
Michael was an unknown variable in the eyes of most people. He could turn into an incredibly useful ally, or their nemesis. Those who knew Michael knew that he would rather become allies with his neighbors, but strangers would consider him dangerous. They would give their utmost to hunt him down before he grew too strong.
That was also why Michael was certain that the Council of Xylon would attack him sooner or later, either way. It didn't matter too much whether the Valyr were hiding in Arx, or if they escaped to a different place. The Council of Xylon would gather their forces and strike him as long as they still had a chance to defeat him.
At least, that was what Michael figured. It was the most logical approach. It was also why Michael hoped that the struggles in the great plains would continue for a while.
"Continue to struggle, while I grow stronger," Michael mumbled, praying that the Zentika Empire would survive long enough for him to take revenge.
After all, he had yet to obliterate Senator Keltos and his underlings.
Since the Zentika Empire wasn't going to cause problems for the time being, Michael turned back to the Valyr Lordess. He asked her about the Council of Xylon's situation, but the Valyr Lordess didn't have as many useful pieces of information as expected.
"I'm unsure whether my knowledge is outdated, or if it is correct, in the first place. The news could have been fabricated, but that's what I heard," She warned Michael, "The Council of Xylon's internal affairs developed into small-scale skirmishes. Some mentioned to keep their forces combined against the Untamed Jungle, whereas other Lords pointed out that the Untamed Jungle is of no danger."
"The opinions are split with the Lords who don't care about the Untamed Jungle mentioning that the other Lords want to stall time to betray them. That hasn't been openly mentioned but the scouts and assassins eavesdropped on our enemies."
"The Lords want to claim their benefits right now. They desire to expand their lands and procure all resources. The distribution of resources, however, turns out a lot more difficult than they'd expected. Everyone's desire to claim the best spot with the biggest resource deposits stirs a lot more trouble than they'd fathomed. That's also how we survived this long."
The Valyr Lordess turned quiet for a moment. Her mood worsened and she sighed deeply, regret filling her heart.
"If not for the Zynur Lord's betrayal, we would have survived a little longer. But…at the end of the day, we would have been crushed."
Michael listened intently to the Valyr Lordess. He heard the gossip of the other Valyr as well and their snarky remarks about the Zynur Lord and the Council of Xylon. Everyone was angry at the Zynur Lord and themselves. They were frustrated that they trusted the Zynur Lord mindlessly.
Some were also angry at the Valyr Lordess for being gullible and an easy target. They commented about the Valyr Lordess family and that she was a disgrace for someone with such a great bloodline.
At some point, they began to gossip about Zira as well, saying that she was nothing like her mother and that it was a shame for her to have a 1-Star Soultrait. They were certain that their family would have invested far more to reinforce the Trilance if Zira had been born with a stronger Soultrait, and if the Savannah Region had been inherited to her later.
Michael ignored most comments, but the gossip was also quite useful in certain regards.
He learned that the Valyr had been unable to claim a Beginner Region – as they're called by certain people for being user-
friendly for Rookie Lords and Rogues – in the last few decades. It would have been a great achievement and a glorious feat for the Valyr to claim the Savannah Region.
'I can work with that.' Michael figured.
He didn't rush to jump into action to assault the Council of Xylon before they could initiate a large-scale attack. Instead, Michael shared his demands with the Valyr Lordess, Zira, and the other Valyr.
"If you want to move freely through my territory, you will let me use my Soultrait on you. The Soultrait allows me to find out your true intentions and thoughts. I won't force anyone, but the Awakened who reject my demand will have to depart my domain and the Untamed Jungle. It's only obvious, but I'm not doing all of this for charity. I ensured that you would survive to help me combat the Council of Xylon."
Michael turned more serious and his faint smile seemed to transform into a devilish grin.
"But don't get me wrong. I can get rid of the Council of Xylon without you guys as well. All you guys are here for is to ensure that my people will survive. If you want to take revenge on the Council of Xylon, or my trust, you'll accept the use of my Soultrait. If not, you will be under constant scrutiny and I will mark you as a potential threat. One wrong move and I will have you executed!"
Michael knew that he was a little bit overbearing right now, but he didn't care. The Valyr should understand that they were in his domain and that they had to live according to his rules. If they didn't like it, they could leave. He wasn't going to stop them.
Their existence and combat prowess should make things easier against the Council of Xylon, however, the Valyr would certainly not change the inevitable outcome of the Regional War.
Michael was going to win, one way or another.
The only important question was who would be left to celebrate the victory alongside him.
